What is a good salary in UK at present?

Mercurial said:
Even in a fairly average shire county like Gloucestershire there are large variances. The Forest of Dean is much poorer and lower waged/cheaper than the Eastern Cotswold part. Likewise, cost to buy in Gloucester is a lot less than Cheltenham. It's quite an extreme county area really.

Edit - In response to the OP; you can't really ignore location. Housing is (so therefore location) is a massive factor in this country.
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There’s a reason Gloucester is much cheaper though ;)
 
Shadowness said:
There’s a reason Gloucester is much cheaper though ;)
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Hehe, worked there for 20ish years (until the mid-00s). Westgate Street nice, shame what the 60s planners did to the rest of the city centre. Some nice suburbs though, Coney Hill and Conduit Street not so much ;)
 
25% above local median is probably what i'd go with.

According to ONS, UK median salary is around £30k.

I looked at the ONS stats a few years ago and remember it varies greatly by location. London median is way higher, some parts are a lot lower. The spread between top and bottom deciles is greater in some regions, too.

If I have time, I'll look up the data and put up some regional medians later.
 
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Data from ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Oct 2022 (latest, gross) https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentan...ts/placeofresidencebylocalauthorityashetable8

I just did a quick and dirty pivot table of the weekly, and multiplied by 52.

Only London, East and South East are above the UK median.
Median
Uk £27,582
London £33,582
South East £29,577
East £28,533
East Midlands £26,265
West Midlands £26,842
South West £26,384
North East £25,511
Yorkshire and Humber £25, 968
Scotland £27,487
Wales £26,254
Northern Ireland £25,901

At 75th centile, London, East, South East are above UK figure. Variation between regions is greater here.
75th centile
Uk £40,840
London £49,868
South East £44,200
East £42,692
East Midlands £37,975
West Midlands £39,270
South West £44,200
North East £36,233
Yorkshire and Humber £37,440
Scotland £40,942
Wales £37,440
Northern Ireland £38,464

And, just for you Gucci belt wearers: top decile earners. Huge spread between London and the rest here.

Uk £56,810
London £71,749
South East £62,712
East £60,054
East Midlands £51,438
West Midlands £53,315
South West £52,858
North East £49,722
Yorkshire and Humber £52,140
Scotland £53,924
Wales £53,315
Northern Ireland £51,823

Top decile will cover a huge range of earnings, so take that one with a pinch of salt.
 
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In Yorkshire, 30+ k is good I'd say.


But like anything it depends on what you want in life doesn't it, people with loads of money are happy/unhappy people with less are happy/unhappy with life in general.
 
Angilion said:
Circumstances are also a relevant factor. I'm a good example of that. I'm a minimum wage flunkey on £19K. But I'm doing pretty OK on that because my expenses are unusually low. No mortgage, no rent, no car, no children, no going away on holiday, no fashion clothing, etc. I have plenty of spare money even with the recent large increases in the cost of living. I don't even look at prices of most things before buying whatever I want and I waste money left right and centre. I don't bother looking at my finances more than a quick glance about once a month. No need - I know that I have more money than I need. I keep accumulating more and more spare money. But for many people here my income is horrifyingly low. By Nitefly's standards (chosen just because it's the post above mine) a "good wage" at my age would be about £80K.
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Yup - totally depends on lifestyle and circumstances.

In relation to the above conversation re: what ‘good wage’ actually means, I’d say it means ‘live comfortably without financial worry and have some money to spend at your leisure’.

That’s a lot different than ‘what’s the lowest amount you could live comfortably on’.

I found that when I hit £40k, without children and outside of London, I could live pretty comfortably. Most things are in reach with a bit of saving. Things then get easier when you move in with a partner.

Saving a deposit for a mortgage is undoubtedly the biggest pain in the arse blocker for ‘financial comfort’. This could be tricky even on a decent salary depending on your commitments (I.e. if you have children).
 
Are we talking household income or individual here.
I bring in <30k wife is on universal credit and we plenty of spare money to holiday, get the cars we want and anything else.
 
Well I work part time at not much over minimum wage (moon man holds back on posting a veiw) but my needs are met, I have no debt (rap going on)bundles of lovely cash in the bank and live in a beautiful location.
Boomer luck ! how dare you!
 
robj20 said:
Are we talking household income or individual here.
I bring in <30k wife is on universal credit and we plenty of spare money to holiday, get the cars we want and anything else.
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Few questions there, where do you live? What type of cars are you buying and holidays are you going on?

Our household income is £60k+ and that’s in the northeast and we couldn’t afford a couple of new cars and expensive holidays every year that’s for sure. Well we could but we’d pretty much have zero savings.
 
Ayahuasca said:
Few questions there, where do you live? What type of cars are you buying and holidays are you going on?

Our household income is £60k+ and that’s in the northeast and we couldn’t afford a couple of new cars and expensive holidays every year that’s for sure. Well we could but we’d pretty much have zero savings.
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Manchester. I certainly don't buy two new cars a year. Current car cost me £18k 6 months old. But if happily spend more if the car I wanted was more (I'm not into cars so I don't waste money on them just get what's required)
Holidays family of four to Cyprus, Greece, Crete that sort of place nice 4*+ hotel none of this kids free type places.
All comes down to what you spend on I guess.

I'm stuck in a position where when I get a pay rise the wife's universal credit goes down by 60p so every £1 I get we only see 40p of it which is a bit annoying.
 
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